-article by Shakira Hoosain

The Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness!

The Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness, SA National Council for the Blind’s Eye Care Services Division, is celebrating 60 years of mobile outreach service to South Africa this year. From its humble beginnings as a single mobile eye care unit that was launched from Pretoria to Schilpadfontein. The tour was carried out from 16-30 October 1952 and 752 cases were examined and 512 were treated. Sixty years later, and for many people, the Bureau is the only eye care service that some people have known in their lifetime; and for many, a single check-up with the Bureau staff on tours is the difference between restoring sight and going blind through avoidable eye conditions such as cataracts.